Nataliya Trafimava’s athletes claimed the third victory in the EuroBasket 2019 Qualifiers and continued the struggle for the first place in the group B.
Belarusian basketball players entered the game with an incredible desire to win. Our girls took the lead from the start and didn’t allow their opponents to regain the initiative. Total game score – 71:50.
The best players of the Belarusian team are: Olga Ziuzkova (12 points, 3 assists, 2 steals), Tatsiana Likhtarovich (8 points, 8 rebounds), Maryia Papova (13 points, 8 rebounds).
Turkish National Team, our main opponent in the struggle for the final stage of the EuroBasket 2019, also reached a success in the match with Estonia (86:48).
Group B team standings after four games:
1. Turkey (4 wins – 8 points)
2. Belarus (3 wins, 1 loss – 7 points)
3. Poland (1 win, 3 losses – 5 points)
4. Estonia (4 losses – 4 points)
The head coach of the Belarusian National Women’s Team Nataliya Trafimava says: “I am glad that we could win such an important game saving chances to straggle for the first place in the group. However, unfortunately, during this match we couldn’t implement everything that we wanted. We had a number of losses. From the other side that the players, who entered the game from the substitutes’ bench, excellently proved themselves and gave an additional push for the defense and attack. I am sure that the main game for the first place in group B for us will take place in November, in Turkey”.
Katsiaryna Snytsina, a player of the Belarusian National Women’s Team, shares her impressions: “It is always pleasant to win in front of your native audience, presenting positive emotions to the fans. Thanks everyone for such a great support! We are waiting for the November games and we will surely struggle for the first place in the group”.
The head coach of the Polish National Women’s Team Arkadiusz Rusin expresses his opinion: “Today we had some problems with the attack. It is impossible to win the games of such level with such attack. My congratulations to the Belarusian team, they played well and deserved this win”.
Paulina Misiek, a player of the Polish National Women’s Team, agrees with the head coach: “As the coach has already said, we couldn’t play well in the attack therefore we lost today. But we will try to claim the victory in the games with Turkey and Estonia in November.”
The best players of the game are Olga Ziuzkova (Belarus) and Paulina Misiek (Poland). The girls got special prizes and flowers from the company “Belvtorothody”, a partner of the Belarusian Basketball Federation.
After the match, a special honoring ceremony was organized for those sportswomen, who finished their career in the national team. During this ceremony the president of the Belarusian Basketball Federation Maksim Ryzhenkov and the vice-president and the store chain “5 Element” owner Andrey Balabin gave memorable gifts to Nataliya Trafimava, Tatsiana Troina and Natallia Anufryenka.
A session of the Children’s Basketball Academy took place within the game. Moreover, there was a performance of the band “Provokatsiya” and the drum-show of Sergey Sheptunov shook up all the audience.
The game took place on St. Valentine’s Day. Therefore, each fan could leave wishes to a favorite athlete on special valentines and after the game young spectators got a possibility to talk to their basketball heroes.
Even the players of the Belarusian National Men’s Basketball Team, who will play with Spain and Slovenia within the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Qualifiers on 23 and 26 February, came to support our girls. Both games will take place in Minsk.
Note:
32 European national teams take part in the Qualifiers (8 groups with 4 teams in each one). From November 2017 till November 2018 group opponents play away and home games with each other (6 games in total). Afterwards, 8 national teams that took the first place and 6 national teams that took the second place will compete in the main part of the tournament.
On 17 November Belarusian team will play with Estonia, on 21 November with Turkey. Both games our girls will play on a visit.
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